Massive manhunt on for ex-Los Angeles cop out for revenge, accused of killing 3

(AP Photo/Los Angeles Police Department)
This undated photo released by the Los Angeles Police Department shows suspect Christopher Dorner, a former Los Angeles officer. Dorner, who was fired from the LAPD in 2008 for making false statements, is linked to a weekend killing in which one of the victims was the daughter of a former police captain who had represented him during the disciplinary hearing.

Law enforcement fanned out across Southern California on Thursday in a massive manhunt for a former Los Angeles police officer with a homicidal vendetta who is suspected of killing a couple and fatally shooting a police officer.

Christopher Jordan Dorner, 33, is said to be targeting police in a bid to avenge his firing from the Los Angeles Police Department in 2009, when he was accused of making false statements to internal affairs investigators.

The search for Dorner stretched from San Diego 150 miles north to the San Bernardino Mountains as law enforcement followed a trail of evidence and tips in an 11,000-word manifesto he posted on the Web. The manifesto detailed Dorner's grievances against the LAPD, threatened police officers and their families, and demanded that his name be publicly cleared.

The rambling post, plus the violent attacks, put both law enforcement and the public on edge. Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck warned that Dorner had access to multiple firearms, including assault weapons, and was considered extremely dangerous.

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Beck ordered more than 40 protective security details for people named in the manifesto, and at least one school named in the document was closed. Elsewhere stores, schools and ski resorts near the search areas were evacuated or locked down.

Dorner is wanted in the killings of Cal State Fullerton assistant basketball coach Monica Quan and her fiance, Keith Lawrence, in Irvine on Sunday.

Quan was the daughter of a police captain who represented Dorner in his departmental hearing that resulted in his firing from the LAPD.

Irvine and Los Angeles police announced Wednesday night that Dorner was a suspect in the double homicide. Around 8:30 Wednesday night, he surfaced in San Diego where he tried unsuccessfully to steal a boat.

Then at 1:25 a.m. Dorner was reported in Corona, near the home of one of the targets named in the manifesto. When LAPD officers on protection detail approached him, Dorner allegedly fired, grazing one officer in the head, "literally inches from killing him," Beck said.

Twenty minutes later and 11 miles away, Dorner ambushed two Riverside police officers at an intersection, killing one and severely injuring the other.

Beck expressed his condolences to the families and the victims in the killing rampage.

"The Riverside officers were cowardly ambushed. They had no opportunity to fight back. No pre-warning. Imagine going about your workday having to worry about that threat," Beck said.

Early Thursday morning, two innocent bystanders were caught up in the search for Dorner. LAPD officers on protection detail fired at a pickup truck matching the description of Dorner's vehicle, but they were two women delivering newspapers. One suffered a minor wound and was released from the hospital; the other was in stable condition.

"Tragically we believe this was a case of mistaken identity by the officers," Beck said.

The search for Dorner later moved to Big Bear in the San Bernardino Mountains when his truck was found burning in a ski resort parking lot.

By late Thursday, authorities had found tracks in the snow but not their suspect. As many as 125 officers were searching the area, going door to door. Residents were told to stay inside and call authorities to report suspicious activity.

Dorner is a decorated military veteran who served in Iraq and was honorably discharged from the Navy on Feb. 1, just days before he was accused of the first killings.

Asked if he would clear Dorner's name as his manifesto demanded, Beck said Thursday without hesitation, "It is not going to happen."

Asked what he would say to Dorner, Beck replied, "I would tell him to turn himself in. This has gone far enough. Nobody else needs to die."